Navigate:

First look: 'Game Change'

Ed Harris and Julianne Moore play John McCain and Sarah Palin in the film. | Philip V. Caruso

The verdict: But is the film any good? Most definitely. Over its two hours, “Game Change” both provides enough “OMG I KNOW THAT GUY!” inside baseball moments to whet the appetite of, say, your average POLITICO reader (see: “This is my husband, Mark Wallace”) while also doing its job as entertainment in providing a compelling narrative that can be nail-biting at times — despite the fact that you already know the ending.

Will Palin fans like it? As noted above, they’ll cringe at times, but there actually are some moments that will please them. There are plenty of references to her star power and to her similarities to Ronald Reagan. Palin is portrayed as a politician unwilling to yield her own core values and policy positions. And the very things that frustrate her advisors on the McCain campaign are also some of the very things that engender Palin to her supporters: A reluctance to play the Washington game, her loyalty to Alaska, an independent streak and a folksy approach to politics.

Text Size

-

+

reset

Perhaps the most notable takeaway is the star power Schmidt will enjoy coming out of this movie. His sympathetic portrayal by Harrelson not only steals the movie but also paints Schmidt as the moral conscience of a campaign trying desperately to avoid the uneasy temptations of modern day campaigning. Once dubbed by TIME as “the lord of outrage,” Schmidt emerges with a shiny — sweet, even — new hue. Palin herself has routinely poked fun of his chain-smoking, foul mouth and “rotund physique,” but the Schmidt on camera is cigarette-free and sports only a modest paunch (the swear words as still aplenty).

As for the film’s politics, if any, it plays closely to the idea (ever popular nowadays…) that American politics have been co-opted by the extremes. At the film’s conclusion, McCain tells Palin: “You’re one of the leaders of the party now, Sarah. Don’t get co-opted by Limbaugh and the other extremists. They’ll destroy the party if you let them.”